It was a busy week last week. Here's some of what happened:

Companies and Products

Alcatel-Lucent introduced a new optical network termination (ONT) for fiber-to-the home (FTTH). The ONT supports Gbps data rates using dual-band Wi-Fi, including 802.11ac, with up to 27 dBm output in regions that allow that much power.

Yet another acquisition: ARRIS will acquire Pace for $2.1 billion, further consolidating the broadband industry.

Comcast terminated their proposed acquisition of Time Warner, given the strong headwinds of government opposition. Reports say Charter is moving in to do the deal.

Cree reported Power and RF Products revenue of $31 million in fiscal Q3, flat with the past two quarters. Margin declined due to product mix.

Custom MMIC released a 4 to 8 GHz GaN LNA with 1 dB NF, 22.5 dB gain, and 17 dBm P1dB. The LNA survives 5 watts of input power without damage.

Freescale reported record RF revenue of $184 million in Q1, 12 percent above Q4 and 63 percent above last year's Q1. The results reflected the strong demand for 3G and 4G base stations, particularly in China. Freescale said RF revenue will be flat in Q2.

Listen to Freescale CEO Gregg Lowe's comments about the RF business, which he made during the Q1 earnings call.

Google unveiled their anticipated multi-network wireless service, called Project Fi. If you want to play, you'll have to buy a Nexus smartphone.

In a demonstration of small cells adding network capacity, Nokia added TD-LTE small-cells to China Mobile's macro network to support 49,000 subscribers at a Shanghai sports event.

Raytheon is investing $1.6 billion to acquire Websense and create a cybersecurity joint venture. Raytheon will own 80% of the new venture, Vista Equity 20%.

Markets, Applications, and Technology

Analyst Earl Lum warns the corruption probe in China has slammed the brakes on 4G deployment, causing infrastructure demand to decline sharply in Q2. This seems to have been confirmed by some of the week's earnings calls.

At the end of March, China Mobile had 815 million cellular subscribers, including 143 million on their 4G network. Mobile data traffic in Q1 was 490 petabytes! How many zeros is that?

Watch an insightful story of how access to the Internet in developing regions increases economic independence and improves the quality of life.

Here's a novel idea: only pay for the data you consume. Wi-Fi and new cellular data plans are edging in that direction, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The FCC is allocating 150 MHz at 3.5 GHz for the Citizen's Broadband Radio Service. This is the first use of a tiered-sharing concept for spectrum.

The Pentagon plans to open an office in Silicon Valley and will provide venture capital to develop commercial technology that has military applications.

Is it possible to build a GSM base station using a $30 Raspberry Pi computer? Yes, although you'll also need a screen room. Watch the story from @PA_Consulting:

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law and the incredible integration that it predicted, is Moore's Law finally showing its age?

Norway will cease analog FM broadcasting in 2017. Audio broadcasting will only use Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), which started in Norway in 1995.

The Hubble Space Telescope turned 25. In a generation it has provided images that span eons.

Still a few echoes from being in Beijing and experiencing the pollution — which, fortunately, wasn't that bad the week I was there. Can you keep your kids healthy in long-term smog?